


It's Better With Two

by rexisnotyourwriter



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 16:05:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5423321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexisnotyourwriter/pseuds/rexisnotyourwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After fighting over a taxi, John Smith and Rose Tyler attend the same Christmas party and pretend to be a couple. A run in with Rose's ex leads to them hiding in a nearby coat closet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Better With Two

It was clear that she had been there first; he was sitting on her purse after all and didn’t “scooch it under” him as he suggested.

The oblivious cabbie asked where they were going.  They paused their heated discussion to holler their respective destinations back at him in the hopes that whoever said it first would win the ride.  They turned back to stare at each other as both of their lips finished uttering the same address.  Silent awkward smiles were exchanged.

“‘suppose I could share,” he suggested with a sly grin.

 

The taxi pulled up in front of the posh hotel. On the ride over, they each apologized for what had happened and discovered that they both worked for the corporation that was hosting the holiday party, but in completely different departments on opposite ends of the city.

She found out his name was John.  He found out hers was Rose. He also found out how much his mouth enjoyed saying that name.

_Rose._

Before she was able to reach the handle, the door of the taxi opened before her. It wasn't until she stepped out that he noticed what she was wearing; he had been too distracted by her mouth in the ride over - the way she her teeth showed more when she said certain words, how she poked the very tip of her tongue out to wet her lips, and the way her teeth gently brushed over her bottom lip as her tongue retreated.

Her bare leg stepped out first through the long slit that went up the side of her dress to the middle of her thigh. As she stood up, the silky black fabric fell almost to the floor. The straps were as thick as his finger with a neckline that fell down across her chest connecting just below the base of her sternum. The rest of the dress clung to her body gently, outlining the shape of her body in the most flattering way. His lips gaped open ever so slightly.

"Shall we?" she asked, offering her arm to him.

He smiled and let out a small awkward laugh, hoping she hadn't taken notice of his expression.

"We shall."

The lobby was adorned with golden stars hanging from a dark blue, almost black, incredibly high ceiling. In the centre of the room was an impossibly large Christmas tree decked with baubles in various shades of red and silver tinsel. John was mesmerized by the sight.

"This place looks so much bigger on the inside," Rose remarked. "And look at the ceiling!"

"Tinsel and red decorations in space," John said, his eyes gazing upwards.

He remembered that their arms were still linked, and he unhooked his from hers. She looked at him, slightly confused.

"Wouldn't want your boyfriend to see, you know," he spurted out awkwardly.

Yes, she was going there alone, and there wasn't a ring, but surely a woman like her was already with someone. He hoped she wasn't. Desperately.

"Oh, he won't," she said. Right, of course she had someone.

His disappointment clearly showed on his face.

Rose laughed.

"That's because he doesn't exist," she added.

"Oh, right," he said, as if he knew she were joking from the start.

She wasn't fooled.

They followed the sign leading to the hall where the party was being held where a woman was waiting outside with a list of names.

"Rose Tyler."

"Tyler, Tyler....there we go. And you sir?"

"John Smith."

"Smith...ah yes. Enjoy the party, Dr. Smith," the woman said with a flirty smile.

"You're a doctor?" Rose asked.

It wasn’t that he didn't seem intelligent or capable, he just didn't strike her as a doctor.

"Well..." he started, "I'm not that kind of doctor."

She waited for him to say what kind of doctor he actually was, but he didn't, and she didn't want to tread on any sensitive topics.

"Right then, Doctor. What now?"

They stood just inside the hall amongst other well dressed people mingling with champagne flutes and half-a-bite sized treats. A waiter holding a tray of said treats passed in front of them. The Doctor (as Rose now referred to him as) grabbed two of the tiny tarts off the tray with his long fingers.

"I love nibbles," he said as he offered her one before popping the other in his mouth.

Another waiter approached them with the champagne flutes which they gladly accepted.

They wandered around the hall, occasionally being stopped by either one of John or Rose's co-workers for brief small talk. Almost everyone they spoke with commented on them. _Them_. As a pair. Never anything all that direct for them to correct, but it was implied. Neither of them bothered to correct them anyways.

_You two look great together._

_Gotta keep the lady happy, am I right John?_

_Oh, you've got yourself quite the looker there, Rose._

There wasn't really anything for them to correct, after all. Everything that was said was true. After a little while, they just embraced it, playing along with the idea of them as a couple. They didn't even discuss it as a game they would do, it just happened so naturally. Almost everyone at the party was in a pair; it seemed a waste of time to explain to people how they were there together, but not _together_ , and how they had just met that day after an incident in a taxi on the way here, and so on. Plus this was way more fun.

After just over an hour of mingling, and more than a few glasses of champagne, they both found themselves needing a break from the heat of the crowd. They left the hall and walked down to the bench at the end of an empty corridor. They sat down and sighed deeply.

"Thanks," she said breaking the silence, placing her hand on top of his that was resting on the bench beside her.

"For what?" he asked.

He could feel her hand on his, but didn’t dare to look down in case she took it as a sign he didn't want it there anymore, because he did. He wanted a lot of things.

"Tonight. I was dreading coming; I almost backed out, but I dunno. Part of me was telling me that I should, for whatever reason."

She stretched her legs forward and popped her heels out of her shoes to let them breathe. Her leg slipped out from underneath the slit in her dress.

"My pleasure, Mrs. Smith."

She laughed.

One of John's co-workers, one he barely knew, referred to Rose as Mrs. Smith despite their lack of wedding bands. They had a good chuckle at that one.

His eyes glanced down at her bare leg. He had almost forgotten about that particular feature of her dress. Her leg was perfect, as perfect as a leg could be, much like how he imagined the rest of her was.

No, stop imagining. He couldn't risk his thoughts registering on his face.

He turned away from her and rubbed the back of his neck.

"But really. Thank you."

She was genuinely grateful.

"Yeah, these things aren't much fun if you're alone."

"Better with two."

"Yeah," he smiled. "Wanna head back in?"

"You want more of those tarts, don't you?"

"Well..."

He wouldn't mind more of them; they were quite good, but he was really more eager to continue playing "couple" with her.

"Come on, you," she smiled.

Instead of offering him her arm, she extended her hand, which he gladly took in his.

They made their way back down the corridor. He couldn't believe that he was holding her hand right now; his hands were much larger than hers, but somehow they seemed to fit perfectly together.

"Shit!"

Before he had a chance to see what Rose was reacting to, he found himself being yanked sharply by the arm and dragged into a dark, stuffy room that was almost pitch black when Rose shut the door and leaned her back against it. He was facing her. He could hear her breathing heavily, he felt it on his neck.

The room they were in was small, so small that their faces were right in each others. Well, not quite. His lips were lined up with the bridge of her nose. No, this couldn't be a room. It was a closet. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and he could make out a few coats and a bunch of empty hangers.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Shhhhh!"

"What is it?" he whispered.

Did she have some secret he didn't know about? Did she actually work for this company? Maybe she was a spy. What if someone was after her? His mind was going wild with increasingly ridiculous scenarios.

She let out a quiet groan.

"My ex."

"What?"

"My ex. My ex-boyfriend is here, and I just - I panicked."

He laughed. He didn't know why really. Maybe it was all the champagne he had had, but her urgency made it seem like a life or death matter, when it was really just an ex. And they were in a coat closet! She had nearly torn his arm out of his shoulder.

He couldn't control his giggles, for that's what his laughter had become - a series of high-pitched, vibrating giggles with no sign of stopping.

She smacked his arm.

"Oi! Stop it," she ordered.

Rose tried to stay mad, but his giggling was infectious.

"Stop it," she said again, trying to stifle her own laughter.

The sound that was coming out of his mouth didn't even sound human; it was adorable and infuriating.

She heard voices outside and shushed him again. He only laughed harder and louder at her attempts to quiet him while trying, and failing, to suppress her own laughter.

"Right then," she muttered to herself as she grabbed his face in her hands and pulled him in for a kiss.

He felt his eyebrows shoot up his forehead in surprise, pleasant surprise.  After the initial shock wore off, he realized she was still kissing him, and he was kissing her.

He gently placed his hands on her waist; she took his head in hers, fingers running rampant through his hair. Her arms pulled him closer to her as she pressed her back against the door. He leaned into her with his whole self, feeling the warmth of her body against his.  

Rose was now fully in his embrace.  One of her hands moved down to his neck, thumb softly stroking the back of his earlobe. Her hands made their way further down his neck and rested on his shoulders as she slowly parted her lips from his.

She looked at his face, barely visible in the dark.  His eyes opened slowly, still in a half stunned yet blissful state.

Rose licked her lips. His dazed eyes focused back on her. She waited for him to say something.

He didn't.

The silence made her realize that the voices outside had stopped.

"I think he's gone," she whispered.

"Right," he replied, slowly regaining focus of where he was and what was happening, what had just happened.

Rose carefully turned the handle and opened the door just enough to peek down the corridor.

It was empty.

They sneaked as inconspicuously as they could back out into the corridor as if they weren't just snogging each other's faces off in a coat closet.

They didn't walk back towards the party though. They just stood there.

"Did you want to go back in?" he asked.

It was his turn to break the silence. She could hear in his tone that he would go back to the party if she wanted to, but that secretly he would rather do something else. She was relieved.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I was in such a rush tonight I didn't have a proper supper."

He grinned.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"D'you like chips? I could really go for some chips."

"Love 'em," he said, his grin growing wider.

"Shall we, Dr. Smith?" Rose said, grabbing his hand and stroking his thumb with hers.

"We shall, Mrs. Smith." 


End file.
